Please delete my prior topic, Water From Roof Runoff.
Water from roof runoff is dangerous because toxic chemicals can leach out of the tars and roofing materials.
I once worked on a construction site where the dogs drank from drip pans used to collect leaking water. All the dogs but one very obnoxious and apparantlhy discriminating on drank the water and died.
The post you made is self explanatory. No one could act on the title alone.
Oh, and closing it or deleting its contents would only bump it higher.
Oh goody—you didn’t close this one, so I’ll bump it higher! Runoff from the roof of your house may not be potable, but can be used for flushing toilets and other necessary things…
So how do we collect rain water?
When I was in Bermuda, I was told that most roofs are made to collect water for drinking.
One way is to catch the runoff through a shortened downspout into a barrel.
All for the downspout in to the barrel method, but rain comes off of the roof into the barrel, and we are back to the Beware part of this thread….
Before downspout comes gutter, and before gutter comes roof… Not sure how to solve this….
Owl---see my post BroncoBoncoBillBull – at 17:00 --- “Runoff from the roof of your house may not be potable, but can be used for flushing toilets and other necessary things…”
use your “homeland defense” plastic sheeting and duct tape. Collect water from the plastic. In a seperate thread (somewhere) I mentioned to beware of wood shingles as well since they can be treated with copper and arsenic compounds. Enamaled steel roofs may be OK.
YOu could use a tarp or plastic sheets to collect the water off a portion of the roof
What about tile roofs? Would they be okay or do we again have the chemicals problem?
Poppy, most tile roofs I’ve worked with are sealed with good old fashioned concrete, not tar. Underneath, there is probably 90lb felt (tar impregnated), over wood.
Odds are, most of the water comming off of a tile roof would be relatively uncontaminated by chemicals. Of course, if the tiles are painted, that could be a factor (depends on type of paint, age, weathering, etc.). Always wise to wait until the roof has been washed down by rain before you begin collecting. <g>
Years ago in Florida, where there were a lot of tile roofs, lot’s of people had rain barrels. Florida was the land of `hard water’, and ladies prized the roof runoff for washing their hair. <g>
While I would definitely treat the water (strain, bleach or boil), if push came to shove, I’d probably drink it.
I just wondered. I saw it had not been brought up and here in California there are loads of spanish tile roofs.
One concern about roof water will be bird poop, especially pigeons. Certainly a reason to boil the water first. Try avoiding the “first flush”, i.e., letting the first runoff go and then start collecting.
Ozark Cabin Web Site http://tinyurl.com/ofele Roof collection system Rainwater collection and storage http://tinyurl.com/l9bpm It can be done.
Since people are asking how to collect rain water without using the roof, here’s a little on how I anticipate doing it. One needs to buy some large plastic or plasticized tarps (they are very cheap) and some metal fence posts (the kind used for chicken wire; they are also very cheap).
In my case, the tarps have eyelets at the corners and in the middle of each edge. We will use these to simply hook the tarp to the fenceposts as follows:
Set 4 fence posts up in a square arrangement to support the corners of the opened tarp, with the “rear” posts holding the tarp up about 3–4 feet off the ground and the “front” posts holding it up about 2 feet off the ground. Then rig additional posts to support the left and right edges. Rig a post to support the middle of the rear edge, and tie a string or rope to the middle eye in the front edge.
This setup will give you a tarp which is angled toward the front, and which has a “Vee” crease down the middle to channel water to the front middle eyelet and edge. You capture the water here with buckets, tubs or anything else you have that will hold water and let you drag it off.
If we use an 8×10 foot tarp, and if we allow for the reduction in capture area caused by the tilting and creasing, we are left with about 70 square feet of capture area. Now, when it rains, we will be able to capture a maximum of 42 gallons per inch of rain.
In other words, multiply 42 by the number of inches and you get the approximate amount of water you could get. With even a tenth of an inch of rain, you could get about 4 gallons this way. You could easily set such an arrangement up in a front yard, back yard or on a driveway.
A smaller tarp will deliver less water, and a larger one more. With a back yard of any size at all, you should be able to run several of these setups (well under $10 each for the materials).
Once you have captured the water, then treat and filter it as has been described in other threads.
You can use this water for drinking and personal washing. Use the downspout water for flushing.
If you are near a farm supply store you might want to check out the large tubs they sell for watering stock. One of these would work well for Eccles setup and probably would not overflow unless you had a gulley washer.
Here is a great website on water catchment practices. It talks about types of roofs, how long to let the roof ‘wash’ before starting to collect water, ways to collect it, treat it, etc. I found this website while designing our new house since we wanted a water catchment system to be integrated into the house. Wish we had built already!
Here is a great website on water catchment practices. It talks about types of roofs, how long to let the roof ‘wash’ before starting to collect water, ways to collect it, treat it, etc. I found this website while designing our new house since we wanted a water catchment system to be integrated into the house. Wish we had built already!
So, it seems you can use runoff from an asphalt roof for potable drinking water, if you filter and disinfect it properly. I have a katadyn ceradyn filter and use bleach for disinfecting (viruses). Anybody see any problems with this?
Oops, nope Katadyn ceramic filters are not good against lead, VOC’s, pesticides. I’ll have to go to plan B, whatever that is.
Sahara – at 16:26 --- “I’ll have to go to plan B, whatever that is.”
Plan B = Wine. Red Wine. Lots and lots of red wine! :-)
Oh thank you Bronco Bill! LOL!
Old thread closed to speed Forum access
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